{"id":153546,"date":"2025-09-22T17:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T17:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/153546\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T17:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T17:55:10","slug":"fighting-in-car-parks-its-not-me-but-this-is-ryder-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/153546\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting in car parks? It\u2019s not me but this is Ryder Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was Wednesday at Augusta National and Frankie Fleetwood, aged 7\u00bd, was in front of a microphone after a Kid Canute-like attempt to defy a huge expanse of water during the father-and-families\u2019 par-three contest. He cocked his head and gently, with hand-me-down vowels and intonation, said: \u201cI\u2019ve been practising as hard as I can, just not reaching it this year \u2026 but I\u2019m trying my hardest.\u201d His father laughed and his son\u2019s words became a slogan.<\/p>\n

It had been a trying time for Tommy Fleetwood, aged 34\u00bd. His near-misses on the PGA Tour had made him a cause c\u00e9l\u00e8bre. Slaughtered, gutted and heartbroken, he squandered leads in Connecticut and Tennessee. One of those to take advantage of his wobbles was Keegan Bradley, whose Travelers Championship triumph fuelled calls for the Ryder Cup captain to take his clubs to Bethpage Black this week. <\/p>\n

It had been five years since another Ryder Cup captain, Paul Azinger, had said victories in Europe were fine and dandy but Fleetwood really needed to win on the PGA Tour to prove himself. By the time Fleetwood did win in the United States, at the Tour Championship last month, at the 164th attempt, basketball megastars LeBron James and Caitlin Clark were providing running commentaries on social media. It is not only God who loves a trier.<\/p>\n

That history means a Ryder Cup win on American soil, for only the third time this century, would be sweet enough to be a health risk. Fleetwood was the man who sealed the victory in Rome two years ago against Rickie Fowler. In Paris in 2018 his partnership with Francesco Molinari was so fruitful that wags on the DP World Tour media team convinced them to climb into bed together with the gold cup while they compared each other\u2019s performance. Despite the drubbing at Whistling Straits in 2021 his points tally is a healthy eight from three appearances with a 100 per cent record in foursomes.<\/p>\n

\"Tommy<\/p>\n

Fleetwood formed a magnificent and memorable partnership with Molinari \u2026 both on and off the course<\/p>\n

TWITTER<\/p>\n

But back to Frankie\u2019s statement. \u201cIt was completely out of the blue,\u201d Fleetwood says. \u201cHe has his little tantrums now and again but got asked that question and came up with that. He\u2019d obviously listened to me say that enough times \u2014 \u2018I\u2019m just trying my hardest.\u2019 Quite often, and especially at the Tour Championship, there was a bit of a cult following that kept shouting at me in an English accent, \u2018I\u2019m just trying my hardest.\u2019 It kind of carried on around the world.<\/p>\n

Fleetwood was even gifted a ball marker celebrating the phrase. \u201cI was using it at the Open and every time I put it down, I\u2019d see these words \u201cjust not reaching it this year\u201d. It clicked that I was playing a major with a marker that was telling me it was not going to happen for me. I thought, \u2018I need to change this.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

\"Frankie<\/p>\n

Fleetwood\u2019s stepson, Frankie, won the hearts of golf fans at Augusta<\/p>\n

SKY SPORTS<\/p>\n

He had been playing so well. A beautifully pure ball-striker, Data Golf rates him the third-best player in the world after Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy while the Official World Golf Ranking has him at No7, but he was penning a great story with a muddled ending.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not that I never thought it would happen, but obviously you have doubts,\u201d he says. \u201cI was continuously putting myself in that position but in doing that I was inviting more pressure. So there\u2019s relief, there\u2019s happiness, there\u2019s satisfaction and joy. But I was conscious about looking ahead quickly because you can\u2019t live or die by the good.\u201d<\/p>\n

That line has traces of Scheffler\u2019s \u201cwhat\u2019s the point\u201d confessional at the Open<\/a>. In Northern Ireland the world No1 shook off the shackles of flat-bat platitudes to suggest the euphoria of winning lasted only a few minutes. Of course, he went on to win. Fleetwood empathises. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s going to last longer, sometimes less. There\u2019s a really good quote from Martina Navratilova who said, \u2018The moment of winning is far too short to live for.\u2019 As someone who hasn\u2019t won that much, I\u2019ve always remembered that. When I make my 165th start I\u2019ll want to win that too and I will have moved on.\u201d<\/p>\n

By now most people will know Fleetwood is a good egg. Nice bloke, polite, as down to earth as any son of a tarmac layer should be. Family matters. He has two stepsons as well as Frankie. One of them, Mo, was in hospital after spinal surgery when he won at East Lake. <\/p>\n

It was not the first health issue to affect his inner circle. Last year his caddie and best man, Ian Finnis, admitted he was scared he was going to die after having open-heart surgery. \u201cThey told me I was going to pop my clogs if I didn\u2019t have an operation,\u201d he told me after bacteria had infected his heart. Yet he still found time to defend Fleetwood from the mounting snipers. \u201cJust because Tommy\u2019s nice doesn\u2019t mean he hasn\u2019t got a winning mentality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fleetwood tells me he bumped into Azinger at East Lake just before his landmark win and, although others were offended on his behalf, he now says the American did have a point. \u201cI saw him and he said how well I was doing and I was going to get there. That was cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t bother me, and I always make a point of not trying to be too emotional either way. If I ever read anything I try and learn, and you might find someone gives an opinion and you think, \u2018That makes sense.\u2019 I\u2019ve always wanted to win on the PGA Tour and do it multiple times. He did have a point because I play in America for 20 weeks a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fleetwood\u2019s popularity is such that it is hard to envisage him bearing the brunt of the well-oiled crowds at Bethpage but he says he will be ready for it. Luke Donald gave an early indication of how seriously he was taking the issue of the crowd at the Team Cup in January when Fleetwood won the decisive point for Justin Rose\u2019s GB & Ireland team against a Continental Europe team led by old pal Molinari. As players teed off, \u201cUSA, USA\u201d was played through the sound system and an American comic was employed to heckle players.<\/p>\n

The more easily mockable Tyrrell Hatton said he was called a Tesco bouncer and an Amish farmer, but what did Fleetwood get? \u201cHe actually mentioned that I hadn\u2019t won on the PGA Tour,\u201d he says with a chuckle. \u201cLook, it\u2019s impossible to replicate what you go through at a Ryder Cup but I think you can do things that challenge the same mental skills. That\u2019s what Luke has tried to do. If it helps 0.0001 per cent, it\u2019s going to help give us the best chance of doing what has seemed almost impossible in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve dreamt about being in these situations at Ryder Cups and the crowd is a visually big part of those dreams and feelings. The crowd this year isn\u2019t going to be in our favour one little bit, but we have to enjoy that. It\u2019s an atmosphere we\u2019ve never experienced before and that\u2019s a really great thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tommy<\/p>\n

Fleetwood has an impressive Ryder Cup record, and here celebrates beating Rickie Fowler in 2023<\/p>\n

AFP<\/p>\n

Two years ago Europe dominated with Fleetwood forming a winning foursomes combo with McIlroy. I wonder what he made of McIlroy being restrained in the parking lot as emotions boiled over. In a statement of candid passion at odds with golf\u2019s genteel traditions McIlroy would even call Patrick Cantlay \u201ca dick\u201d in one interview. Cantlay is also back for more this week, perhaps even revenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all very motivated by it and it was good to get a bit of fire going,\u201d Fleetwood says. \u201cWe were all supportive of Rory, of course you are, and it gave the singles an edge.\u201d Could he imagine himself squaring up to anyone in a New York parking lot? \u201cIt\u2019s not really my character but you never know what happens at a Ryder Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He is, though, a man in rare form. He has had six top-five finishes in 2025 and eight top-tens. He concedes that he was disappointed by his major season \u2014 16th at the Open and 21st at the Masters were the picks \u2014 but his consistency has been hugely impressive.<\/p>\n

And for all the hullabaloo about his America hoodoo, the fact is Fleetwood has long liked the big American stages. He has been in the top five at each of the US majors, finishing runner-up at Shinnecock Hills when he missed an eight-foot putt for a play-off and the first 62 in US Open history. In that 2018 aftermath the winner, Brooks Koepka, not a man easily given to platitudes, said Fleetwood was \u201cincredible\u201d and would \u201cdefinitely win some majors soon\u201d.<\/p>\n

That has not happened, but he always fronts up. Media snubs may provoke soundtracks played by the world\u2019s tiniest string section, but it throws more light on his nature given McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and Shane Lowry have been questioning the need for post-round interviews this summer.<\/p>\n

So why does he always do it? \u201cFirst and foremost, I think it\u2019s part of the job. It\u2019s the right thing to do.\u201d However, there is also a practical aspect to it. \u201cAs much as you might want to creep into a hole when you feel you\u2019ve let it go, I\u2019ve always felt that when I speak after a round I get the words out. It\u2019s part talking to everyone but part talking to myself. Like journalling. It\u2019s almost getting a head start on sorting it out in my mind. There are times when you will enjoy interviews and times when you don\u2019t, but I feel like I have an obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n

This time he believes Europe\u2019s near identikit team from 2023, other than an identical twin in Rasmus for Nicolai Hojgaard, will help after the \u201ctransition\u201d from the team of Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garc\u00eda. \u201cWe definitely lost some big names and personalities and the story then was what\u2019s going to happen now, but fast-forward a few years and we\u2019ve got almost the same team. It\u2019s amazing how quickly that has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Fleetwood, one monumental hurdle has been scaled this year. Whatever happens this week, you can be sure golf\u2019s nice guy will be trying his hardest to clear another.<\/p>\n

Ryder Cup<\/p>\n

Bethpage Black, New York
Friday-Sunday
TV Sky Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was Wednesday at Augusta National and Frankie Fleetwood, aged 7\u00bd, was in front of a microphone after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-153546","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}